But he found himself dreading the prospect of winter in Iowa, conjuring an image of campaign misery at a forum two weeks ago as he imagined himself at a hotel room in Des Moines, “and it’s 5:30 in the morning and it’s 15 below, and it’s time for me to get up and go shake hands at the meatpacking plant.”

The Christie dream died yesterday, leaving his Iowa faithful looking elsewhere. Hoping to capitalize, Team Romney indicated an increasing Iowa presence. Michele Bachmann said the “table is set” for the GOP field before a group of college students crashed her evening event.

Here’s Wednesday’s 2012 action from Iowa:

The Register Recap

“Had he entered, I think he would have diluted a lot of the base of a lot of the candidates,” said (businessman Gary) Kirke, who today announced his support for Perry. “I would say now that we know he’s not coming in, people who are uncommitted will settle on who they want, and I think it will be a real dog fight between Perry and (former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt) Romney.”

The Romney campaign intends to compete vigorously for those (on-the-fence) voters, said Renee Schulte, a state representative from Cedar Rapids who is co-chairwoman of Romney’s Iowa effort. … “I expect you’ll see a lot of activity out of Romney between now and the caucuses,” she said …

“There will be a natural, I think, turn toward the existing candidates and I think the table is set. And I’m very comfortable with where we are in the race. I think we’ll show very well with the electorate,” Bachmann said in an interview.

COLLEGE STUDENTS UPEND BACHMANN FAMILY LEADER EVENT

It’s safe to say some students of Grinnell College haven’t quite settled on Bachmann. They showed up at with signs to a Family Leader fundraiser held at a pumpkin farm, Jason Noble reports.

In return, Bachmann showed up an hour late with police in tow to cordon the students. The meeting, originally to be held in a barn and open to media, was moved privately into the hosts’ home.

Other takes

TWO MORE BITS FROM YESTERDAY’S BACHMANN

In Newton, Bachmann agrees that Obama is frustrating, should be impeached or both, CBS reports:

Bachmann was asked by a man in the crowd, “When will we impeach him and get him out of the way? We should be” The candidate replied, “Well, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you, I agree, I agree. Some people are really upset.” Then she moved on to the next well-wisher.

After the incident, campaign spokesperson Alice Stewart told CBS News: “She was not saying that she agrees that Obama should be impeached. She agreed with the man on what they were talking about before- that people are frustrated.”

Bachmann said she has had over 250,000 donors and the average donation is $50.

Immediately afterwards Alice Stewart, Bachmann’s campaign spokeswoman, approached the media table, saying Bachmann ”misspoke a tiny bit” and the 250,000 donor number is “over the course of her entire political career” (as a member of congress).

“I think all of those candidates are going to try to take a piece out of Rick Perry. I think Rick Santorum has every potential to see movement in his numbers in Iowa. So you’re going to see a pretty vigorous contest now about who’s going to be the conservative alternative to Romney, and there’s going to be a pile-on in that part of the primary.”